Monday, 17 October 2005

Im handing it over to Blackdown for all things dubstep. If you want to join the fan club, postcards to the usual address... *This article appeared in a recent issue of Blues & Soul.* "In celebration of legendary club night Forward's fourth birthday, Martin Clark aka Blackdown, a journalist, blogger and producer who's been documenting the movement that is Forward, shares with us its rise and essential tracks... FWD>> began at central Londons Velvet Rooms in 2001. This month it celebrates its fourth birthday. Four groundbreaking years of exclusive beats to skank to and b-lines that make your chest cavity shudder. Call it dubstep, grime or breakstep, this is a celebration of a London sound and scene. Back when it started 2step garage was peaking: all swing and bling. Forward>> was born as a place for Londons underground headz who preferred grimey sounds to glitzy garms. The club soon moved to Plastic People, the ultimate soundbwoy venue. Dark, bassy and informal, headz poured off east Londons dark streets to imbibe new music late into the night. The club has grown to become a bastion for fresh sounds. To dubstep, south Londons dark garage hybrid, Forward>> is its home. Breakbeat garage evolved from the early post-jungle experiments through to the current breakstep sound. Grime, before it even was called grime, was flung down here. From the first night in, Forward>> was essential attendance. Who remembers J Da Flex flinging down the El-B dubs at the very first night? Or Slimzee and Maxwell D repping for Pay As U Go: proto-grime in motion. Lyrical innovators like Wiley, Ms Dynamite, Crazy Titch, Riko, Skepta and Rodney P blessing the mic? Do you know every one of Crazy Ds lyrics, the FWD>> host whos made dubstep his own? Were you there when Hatcha first dropped Artworks Red or Digital Mystikz Pathwayz? Who heard Zed Bias play Zincs Hello or Oris Jay drop his own breaks anthem Said the Spider? Did your jaw drop when Youngsta cut double-dubplates of Skreams Late Night Request Line?Forward>>s faithful did. And that is what makes it unique. Its not just that its a place that producers create all their beats for, or a place where DJs define themselves by their sets there. What makes the club unique is its status as a cultural meeting point for the diverse melting pot that is London. No matter what ends youre from, if you like dark, heavyweight riddims, you reach Forward>>".Top anthems...Artwork 'Red' (Big Apple)"Minimal yet funky like week-old socks: one of the foundations of new school dubstep."Darqwan 'Said the Spider' (Texture)"When Sheffields Oris Jay flung down the breaks: clubs got torn to shreds."Digital Mystikz Neverland (DMZ)"Pathwayz broke DMZ. Neverland breaks the dancefloor."DJ Zinc 'Hello' (Bingo)"When breaks ruled UKG, there was no bigger tune."El-B & Juiceman 'Buck & Bury remix' (unreleased Ghost)"Streathams godfather of dubstep skanked dark and tribal."Elephant Man 'Log On (Horsepower mix)' (white)"Sholay and Classic Delux went deep: this went dangerous."Kode 9 'Kingstown (dub)' (Hyperdub)"New school, post-grime weighline."Loefah 'Horror Show' (DMZ)"The dawn of the halfstep revolution. Be afraid."Plasticman 'Cha' (Terrorhythm)"Pure energy grime from south London."Skream 'Request Line' (Tempa)"Current dubstep anthem so big on road its getting licked back by Roll Deep."Zed Bias 'Superfine' (Soulja)"Zed earned original godfather status too. Easy my man."11 Forward>> anthems from the last four years, compiled in alphabetical order, by Martin Clark www.blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com